Study on Mechanical and Tribological Characterization of Al2O3/SiCp Reinforced Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite

In this investigation, an attempt has been made to hardness and wear rate of Al7075 hybrid metal matrix composite reinforced with the hard ceramics like alumina (2, 4, and 6 wt.% of Al2O3) and silicon carbide (3, 6, and 9 wt.% of SiC) is fabricated by using stir casting method. The samples were aging at temperature of 140 ^°C, 160 ^°C and 180 ^°C and monitored by hardness test. Taguchi’s L27 Orthogonal array was used for optimizing the process parameters. The obtained results indicated that hardness increased with increasing reinforcement. A wear test was performed using pin-on disk apparatus at room temperature for constant load of 30N, at a fixed sliding speed of 1.66 m/s and wear resistance increased as the weight percentage of reinforcement increased. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies were carried out to evaluate the worn surface. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), Al₂O₃ is the significant factor that affects the hardness and wear loss of hybrid composites followed by SiCp and heat treatment. Confirmatory test was performed for the optimized parameters and these results were within the acceptable range when compared with the experimental results.